DC Movies Set Up 3 Huge Joker Stories This Decade, and None of Them Are Being Paid Off (Yet)

The Joker doesn’t currently have a clear DC movie future, despite multiple avenues having been set up. The Clown Prince of Crime has defined comic book – and comic book movie – villains for several decades, whether it’s in the pages of DC Comics, Mark Hamill’s animated version, or ranging from Cesar Romero’s take in the 1960s to Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989) in live-action. In terms of the 21st Century, of course, Heath Ledger’s portrayal from The Dark Knight casts a shadow not only over other iterations, but just about every superhero movie villain that’s followed him.

Still, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been several more versions since then. He’s remained a go-to villain for DC, and sometimes hasn’t even needed a Batman to go up against. We’ve had Joker with the Suicide Squad, Joker with Harley Quinn, and just Joker by himself. But after all of that, what comes next? Recent years have seen plenty of setup for Mr. J to have future stories, but none have yet come to fruition.

3) Jared Leto’s Joker Working With Batman

Jared Leto’s gangster-style Joker faced an uphill battle from the moment the first look images of him were released. With tattoos and metal capped teeth, the character’s reputation was immediately Damaged and never really recovered. But after his much criticized performance in Suicide Squad came an unexpected chance for a repreive, thanks to Zack Snyder’s Justice League. He decided to insert Leto’s clown into the Knightmare sequence, wherein he and Batman have to agree to a reluctant truce.

Snyder’s Justice League sequel plans would’ve explored more of this future, wherein Batman, Joker, and other remaining heroes would’ve had to work together as Darkseid conquered Earth, with Superman under his control via the Anti-Life Equation. While this would’ve revolved around the attempt to steal one of the Mother Boxes, Snyder also envisaged the Joker as someone who knew how to obtain Kryptonite, making him much more useful to Batman. Even with the release, and streaming success, of the Snyder Cut, however, DC has moved on. There are no plans for the Snyderverse to continue in any way, which means Leto’s Joker won’t be back.

2) The Real Joker Replacing Arthur Fleck

Joker was a game-changer for the Clown Prince of Crime, giving him a new, tortured origin story and attempting to explore his psyche in far more depth than we’d seen in any Batman movie. But even as we witnessed the rise of Arthur Fleck into the eponymous character, there were theories he wasn’t the real Joker of that universe. That he would inspire someone who would pick up that mantle, and that’s exactly what the twist at the end of Joker: Folie á Deux delivered, as a fellow Arkham inmate killed Arthur, and then carved a smile into his own face.

The actions of the young inmate (Connor Storrie) – the murder, the scars, the joke, the laugh – all set him up as the Joker that Arthur couldn’t be; the wounds on his face giving him a permanence, not make-up that can be washed off, which suggests he’ll be the enemy to this universe’s Batman (when he eventually emerges).

However, that’s not something we’re going to see play out. While it was always unlikely Todd Phillips would return for another movie, if Folie á Deux had been a hit, then WB would’ve surely wanted to explore options to make another film and build on that ending. Ultimately, though, it was a flop, critically panned, and that Joker is dead.

1) Barry Keoghan’s Joker Facing Off With Robert Pattinson’s Batman

Of the three Jokers featured here, Barry Keoghan’s is the one with the least screen time, only appearing for seconds in The Batman‘s ending, sharing a joke with his new fellow Arkham inmate, the Riddler. A deleted scene gave us more of the Joker and Batman, with the Dark Knight paying him a visit in the hopes of learning more about Edward Nashton and how to beat him. That suggested a past between the two, but also a future as well.

Director Matt Reeves explained this was a “Joker who’s not yet the Joker,” and so it seemed very likely that he’d fully become the DC villain in the sequel. Keoghan’s status for that movie has not yet been confirmed, but we already know The Batman 2‘s villain won’t be the Joker. Reeves has said the villain of the film has “never really been done” in a movie (he presumably means a live-action one), ruling out Mr. J. Still, Keoghan’s the only one of these three who Joker has a chance at a future: if Pattinson’s Batman does get a trilogy, then he could be the villain of The Batman 3, whenever that might be.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Joker: Folie á Deux, and The Batman are all available to stream on HBO Max. The Batman: Part II will be released in theaters on October 1st, 2027.

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